Hellobee Boards

@vnvdvci: I posted about this a couple of months ago. You can read the thread here: http://boards.hellobee.com/topic/asian-moms-1-month-nanny#post-480699

I was planning to hire a lady, but the prices I got for our area were close to $4K for the month! Just to hire someone to do the cooking of all the foods and soups (and you pick up or they deliver) was $1800-2000 for the month's worth. Sooo.... I quickly dismissed that idea.

But I do like the idea of someone coming to help and take care of both you and the baby. A lot of women swear by it and others complain about life long problems they acquired after birth from not taking care of themselves. If your mom is willing to hire someone, I say go for it!

tagging @regberadaisy as she is Chinese and loves this stuff her mom took care of her and her DD after her birth.

@vnvdvci: I just gave birth on 2/22... so I'm currently going through the month-long confinement process. I was also born and raised in the U.S. so didn't know much about this stuff prior to my first birth.

I find that I actually like it because I feel like I'm getting pampered. My MIL has been bringing food to my bed 3x a day and I basically just focus on nursing the baby and resting/recovering. My MIL is korean and I'm chinese so I guess I'm doing a combination of Korean and Chinese postpartum care.

I do get antsy and claustrophobic, and I'm dying for an ice cold glass of soda... but this is my second time going through this so I'm learning to enjoy it as much as I can.

My own mom also made some Chinese soups for me, but because she's still working full time I see her less frequently. I love the Chinese soups and was curious how to make them, so I stumbled upon this site with all the essential Chinese postpartum recipes - http://www.thechinesesouplady.com/?cat=37

I fully believe in the confinement period (minus the not showering... there is no way, no how!) - I can tell that my joints are weak and it makes sense to me why you wouldn't want to strain your body too much and how some of the soups provide healing properties (like the gelatin from pig's feet, and seaweed soup to boost milk supply, etc).

@vnvdvci: just saw this while I was searching for a old post of mine.

What kind of Chinese are you because the customs differ greatly between regions and villages. ie I'm Fujianese and my SIL is Taijanese (sp?) and my other SIL is Wenchau and in theory all our customs are the same. But when you get down to the nitty gritty they are very different. My SIl ate pigs feet a lot but in my region that's a no no. I literally ate chicken (a very specific breed my mom brought from NYC, no joke) for 3 week straight. In the fourth week my mom let me eat some other food items from a very short and approved list! I also drank a lot of hot soup that had rice wine in it that she made when she found out I was pregnant. She made everything fresh every 3rd day.
No bathing, no washing hair. About mid way through my aunt let my cousin who delivered around the same time wash her hair and shower so I made my mom let me too! hahah But only with hot ginger water. Gah.
And technically speaking it really IS actual confinement as it's bad for wind to blow on your joints. So my time out of the house was very minimal. My mom would yell at me if I went out into the backyard!

Is there a Chinese community where you live? Can you post an ad at the local Chinese market?

Let me know if you have any other questions!

Hi Everyone! I am interested in hiring a confinement nanny. I live in the Los Angeles area. Any recommendations for agencies I could go through to find someone? Thank you!